Fireplace Decorating Ideas

by Adrian How

Coming up with decorating ideas for fireplace mantles is fairly easy; however, trying to decide which items that you would like to prominently display on your mantle could be a little harder.

Fireplace Decorating – Start in the Center

The first thing to do when decorating fireplace mantels is to choose a centerpiece. Place your favorite framed piece of art in the center of the mantle to create a main focal point. If you don’t have a favorite piece of art, you can use a mirror or a beautiful floral arrangement as the centerpiece of your decorating design. Once you have placed your centerpiece, place groups of similar items on either side, toward the end of the mantle. Try a small grouping of the same type of vases (either the same color or style) or a few black and white photos in the same color or type of picture frames. Having small groupings on either side of the centerpiece offers both uniformity and balance to your overall design.

Fireplace Decorating – Do’s

The fireplace mantles are more often than not, the focal point of a room. Therefore, you need to find a good mix of both large and small items to place on your mantle to create a balanced look. It’s also important to choose decorative items that are proportionate to the size of your mantle; very small items will virtually disappear on large mantles and very big items will look out of place on small ones. When decorating your fireplace, you also need to be mindful of your overall room décor; for example, if the room is decorated in an Art Deco style, you don’t want to place Victorian style antiques on your mantle, they will look out of place and throw the entire look and feel of the room completely off.

Fireplace Decorating – Don’ts

As important as it is to remember the decorating do’s, it is equally important to know about the don’ts. A beautifully decorated mantle can be ruined if certain key things are not avoided. Too much of anything is not a good thing. Be selective when placing decorative items on your mantle as clutter is never attractive. Similarly, not enough variety can cause a decorating problem as well. While you are looking for balance and uniformity, placing too many of the same items on your mantle can be boring. You can create interest by combining items that complement each other. This means that not all of your items have to match in color, shape and size but you can choose items that have the same lines, like rectangular frames paired with square frames or circular frames alongside oval frames. Last, it’s wise to avoid using a lot of different colors, unless they are within the same color family. Otherwise, they will compete for attention and can create visual noise.

Fireplace Decorating – Safety Tips

Last, but certainly not least (and for practical reasons), you need to consider the flammability of any items placed on fireplace mantles. If your fireplace is functional, it is probably not a good idea to place your favorite first edition books, or anything else that will easily catch fire for that matter, on the mantle.

Whether your fireplace mantel is large, small, fancy or plain, your decorating will be easy as long as you keep these few key basics in mind when choosing decorations. Once you understand the basics, fireplace mantle decorating ideas are usually fairly simple and easy. As long as you pick things you love and things that go together, your fireplace mantle design will be successful. And, most of the time, the items can be found around your house so you won’t even have to go out and buy a bunch of new things